Interpretive Summary: Toxoplasma gondii is a single-celled parasite of all warm-blooded hosts worldwide. It causes mental retardation and loss of vision in children, and abortion in livestock. Cats are the main reservoir of T. gondii because they are the only hosts that can excrete the resistant stage (oocyst) of the parasite in the feces. Humans become infected by eating undercooked meat from infected animals and food and water contaminated with oocysts. In this book J.P. Dubey, a scientist at the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center reviews toxoplasmosis in animals and humans.. The results will be of interest to biologists, parasitologists, and veterinarians.

Technical Abstract:
T. gondii is one of the most studied parasites.It causes disease in virtually all warm blooded animals Many scientists use T. gondii to investigate problems in cell biology and genetics. The book is divided into 19 chapters. Chapter 1 deals with biology. Chapter 2, which deals with toxoplasmosis in humans. Each of the remaining book chapters 3-19 deals with toxoplasmosis in one of the known host types of T. gondii, including a chapter on marine mammals that are dying from toxoplasmosis. In these chapters all information on toxoplasmosis for the past 20 years is included, including prevalence, clinical disease, diagnosis, treatment, and control.